


Bittersweet Recovery

by Spoiler1001



Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Marvel (Comics), Spider-Man (Comicverse), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Anger, Betrayal, Cold, Fear, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Loss, Love, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Slut Shaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 04:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20960678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoiler1001/pseuds/Spoiler1001
Summary: Johnny is left to recover while Otto Octavius sets his sights onto him.





	Bittersweet Recovery

Johnny loved the apartment he shared with Peter. It felt like home. Johnny could lay in bed for hours, the warmth settling into his bones, but the place next to him was too empty. The heat from Peter had long since faded but his presence was still there. His wrist had healed from the Red Skulls attack, but it still hurt, somewhere deep in his soul. He could still hear the pain in Peter's voice. It made him happy to feel loved, but with all the people he killed, he didn't deserve it. Peter hated death and killing and despite that he still did for so long. Was he still the man that Peter met years ago? He didn't feel like it. He didn't even feel like a person. 

Johnny sighed and grabbed Peter's pillow and hugged it. It gave him a similar healing effect getting stabbed through the neck and putting a bandaid on it. It still bled and was only getting worse. He pulled out his phone and typed out a quick message to Peter. It was short, just three words; 'I love you'. Peter sent back a near paragraph, asking if he was ok, and telling him that his summer classes were almost over, he would be home soon, with lunch. Johnny smiled through tears he didn't even know he had.

Johnny stood up and stretched. He should probably get dressed. While he didn't think Peter would complain, he probably shouldn't greet Peter wearing but a smile. Well peter had once said that what's his is now Johnny's and there is a wonderfully soft hoodie, surely that would look great with a pair of shorts he owned.

He wiped his eyes and made himself presentable. He was physically ok. He was safe. He was loved. He could smile. He could breathe.

Johnny was brushing his hair when the door opened. He took a deep breath and went to acknowledge the new arrival.

"Peter!" Johnny said, his smile a bit too wide and a bit too bright. "What did you get?" 

Peter seemed distracted, but lifted a bag of food towards Johnny. He took the oily bag of some fast food or another. It was cold but he didn't care. Peter watched him as though he was thinking of something else. His face was pale and he had bags under his eyes. 

"Are you feeling ok? You look kind of tired." Johnny looked up with his thoughts running a mile a minute.

Peter seemed to be quiet for a second. "I've just been really busy." 

"Anything help with?" Johnny perked up and grabbed his hand. Peter pulled his hand away and a look of contempt flashed over his face, but it smoothed over into a smile.

"No, but." Peter leaned forward. "I've been working one something. For you. But it's big. On the edge of the city. I'll have to take you."

Johnny pulled back. "You're not driving, are you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Peter smiled. 

"Well after I tried to teach you, I swore to never get in a car with you behind the wheel, did you hit your head or something?" Johnny's mind was moving a hundred miles an hour. Peter just cocked his head to the side. "Will we be back by the time our dinner reservations arrived? You did promise." 

"What? Yes! Of course, we'll be back in time for that." Peter blinked and huffed. "You trust me, right?" 

"That shouldn't be a question, but you wouldn't know that, seeing as you aren't Peter." Johnny took a step back and made his way towards the door. He forgot how quick someone like Peter was. He was slammed onto the ground with a grunt. "Who are you?"

"You're pathetic, really." The man wearing Peter's face whispered. The accent was bizarre, not Peter, but not the other clones either, different, but he couldn't flame on, couldn't think about burning Peter. Johnny realized who he was dealing with. Toto. "Chasing after someone who won't love you like you care for them. I've been in his head. You aren't like the others. You're too stupid to be more" the mans arm wrapped around his neck and squeezed away the access to air. "Than the concubine to be thrown away when he gets the whim." Johnny shook and felt tears build up in his eyes. 

Spots danced in his eyes and he sobbed silently as he went limp. 

* * *

Pete came home with a box of chicken and other food. The door was open and immediately set off his spider sense. Something was wrong with Johnny. Peters chest tightened in panic and he dropped the box. There almost nothing was stolen, a bag of food that Johnny did not finish, a footprint on the hallway wall leading to the door and a dip on the floor. It was warm but not scotched. Meaning that he forced down his instinct to fight back, meaning it was someone close to him… or looked like someone close to him. 

Peter left his work suit right on the floor and locked the door. He took a deep breath, centering himself before letting his anger grow. He was not gonna lose Johnny. Not again. 

He pulled his mask on, and Spiderman jumped out the window. 

* * *

Johnny woke up in a clear tube. The air surrounding him was super oxygenated. He was wide awake but it hurt his lungs. The air was pushing into his lungs and when he breathed, more oxygen was pumped in. 

"You were supposed to be gone." Johnny whispered against the pressure. 

"Well, we both know that people can come back." Otto snarled. "At least you can be useful here." 

A spark of electricity lit the air and Johnny went plasma, flaming on and kept burning. 

"Why can't I turn it off?!" Johnny gasped. 

"You're burning as much as the oxygen is supplying. It calibrated for your heat and the glass is built for this. You can't burn this way out of this. I can almost see the appeal of you." Otto smiled and placed his hand on the glass. "I can promise you that here, you can do some real good." 

"You bastard!" Johnny burned hotter and was stuck as the pumps kicked in hotter. And he was stuck as hotter. Panic filled his chest and tears evaporated off of him. It hurt, the constant fire that he couldn't turn off, but he couldn't pass out. He needed to stop and think. 

The pumps made a noise. They were machines with upper limits. Johnny smiled. He rose the temperature again. This was going to take a lot of control, but he could do it. He was the human torch and he could do more than set things on fire.

"Mr. Storm, if you continue doing that, can you live with the damage of the resulting explosion." Otto glared at the bright light. 

Johnny didn't respond. The flames got bigger and burned hotter, burning away the oxygen and making the pumps work faster and heat up. 

"You're more of a monster than I am. Peter will be happy to see you gone. I'll be sure to show him what you've become." Otto smiled, but his jaw was tight. 

Johnny kicked up the heat one more time. The oxygen pumps broke and air flowed freely, flames shooting out of it and rose, like an explosion going in slow motion. The glass held strong. The diluted air gave johnny bis control back. He could turn it off. 

The flames died. Johnny looked up at Otto. The man was getting ready to swing away. 

Johnny snarled. The heat he created was easy to absorb. But that wouldn't help him. No. So Johnny kept absorbing heat. Otto's breath was clouding and he shot his webbing. 

"Don't." Johnny growled and the glass shattered, and Otto's webbing froze, dropping him on the ground.

"You used Peter's face to try to trap me." Johnny calmly spoke as he stepped out of his cage. "You used my feelings against me." 

Otto scrambled to his feet, the cold freezing his webbing under his skin.

Johnny grabbed Octavius' shoulder. The first punch broke his nose, and Johnny kept swinging. 

* * *

Peter was swinging quickly, his mind racing, trying to find Johnny. He needed to know he was ok, he needed to hold Johnny.

Peter landed on a low building near the docks, the summer heat getting to him. He couldn't deal with Johnny being taken, so soon after the Red Skull cut him. He shivered at the thought. 

Wait. 

Shivering...oh. it felt like the heat was being taken out of the air, like it was being pulled away from the air. Peter felt relieved. It could be Johnny. It had to be.

Peter looked at the building he landed on. It was old. Falling apart. The rot smelled of mold, but also metal. Industrial metal, brand new and treated against rust. It didn't belong. Neither did the puffs of air that were visible when he breathed. 

Finding a window was easy. They had cardboard on them, but ripping them off exposed metal coverings. They locked Johnny in a metal box. In a rage he punched it. The metal folded like tin foil. After that it was easy to rip it open. It was like getting blasted in the face with winter. He dove in anyway. 

Peter was surprised to see Johnny, wearing his hoodie and shorts, beating a clone…

Octavius. 

"Johnny" Peter said but got no response. "Johnny, it's over. He's done."

Johnny froze. The air seemed to get colder. 

Peter kept going. "Johnny. You're safe. You can stop."

Johnny dropped Otto and turned. "Pete?" 

"I'm here. You're ok." Peter hugged Johnny. The air slowly got warmer. "I got you."

"I'm sorry." Johnny cried. "I'm so sorry." 

* * *

  


Johnny slept on the couch afterwards. It wasn't like he was giving Peter the cold shoulder, he just was sleeping on the couch with a thin fireproof blanket.

Peter watched him sleep. Nightmares were rampant at night, for the both of them. Johnny dreamt of burning and freezing Peter, the angry look in his eyes, the betrayal, the knowledge that Johnny was a murderer. Peter dreamt of Otto killing Johnny, Peter finding Johnny dead, the Red Skull incident. Both needed the comfort of the other at night.

"Johnny." Peter whispered a week into this sleeping pattern. "C'mon let's go to bed. We can't keep doing this." Johnny opened his eyes with a weak glare. "There's the pretty blue eyes i wanted to see." Peter whispered encouragingly. 

"I'm right where I want to be." Johnny mumbled. Peter flinched. 

"You don't want to be with me," Peter sighed. "Was it something I did?"

"No. Not you, it's just...I-I-I'm not a hero anymore." Johnny sat up. "And I can't l-look you in the e-eyes. I've killed people, Pete. I almost-"

"You don't go out and murder people Johnny, you've killed in self defense. Because there was no other way. That shouldn't be on you." Peter sat next to him on the couch, cupping his cheek. "I don't hold it against you." 

"But Octavius-" Johnny leaned into the touch but still spoke, trying not to take comfort in the other's touch.

"I would have done worse." Peter's voice grew distant. "I wanted to do worse. But you were there and needed me." 

"I don't deserve you." Johnny cried softly. 

"Hey. None of that." Peter wiped the tears away. "You deserve the world." 

"But-"

"Johnny, I know things are tough right now, but come on back to bed. It'll make us sleep better." Peter stood up and extended his hand to Johnny. 

Johnny hesitated. Then he nodded and took Peter's hand. 

"Sleep now and we'll figure out everything tomorrow." Johnny gave him a weak smile. 

Peter lead him to bed, gently and patiently. "That's the Johnny I know and love."

* * *

Johnny laid curled up next to Peter. Warmth radiated from the bed as Peter held the other close. Neither was sleeping, both too wound up to sleep comfortably but two concerned about the other to move. Silence filled the room, and it brought emotions that buried other emotions. Peter had a question, burning at him in ways fire couldn't dream of. 

"Johnny…" Peter asked, startling them both. Johnny pulled his head up to look at Peter. His blond hair almost glowed in the summer daybreak. It made Peter, heart crack as he began to form the words of his question. The implications made his stomach turn. "What happened here? What did Octavius do to you here?"

Johnny jerked and sat up. "Peter. Whatever your thinking, no." Johnny played with his hair. "He tried to used you to lure me into his machine. When that didn't work he…" Johnny placed a hand on his neck. "Rendered me unconscious."

"Why didn't his plan work?" Peter asked while sitting up to look at Johnny.

Johnny looked away. "I know how to look for doppelgangers. Marrying a skrull will do that."

Peter sank "oh." 

"He did insult me." Johnny looked at Peter. "Nothing too harsh. But his face. His voice. It made it worse. I couldn't flame on."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Peter whispered. "I want you to know, I would never-"

Johnny cut him off by slamming his head on Peter's chest gently. "I know. I know." Peter wrapped his arms around Johnny, shielding him from the outside world.

"I wish you didn't have to see me do that." Johnny whispered into Peter's chest. Peter hummed and played with the other man's hair. 

"I didn't know you could, but extreme stress makes new abilities of ours pop up. It's how I got my strength." Peter kissed the top of his head. "I might not have left him alive."

"Don't say that. I don't want to think of you doing something like that." Johnny mumbled. "You're a hero, I'm an arson waiting to happen." 

"No. You have more control than that." Peter pulled back to look at him. There were dark circles under his eyes and tears clouding the blue. "You saved people. what we do in desperate situations does not reflect on you."

"You really believe that?" Johnny asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"I do." Peter nodded. "Now let's try to sleep before sunrise." 

Johnny made a noise and nodded. "I love you." He mumbled. 

Peter smiled softly. "And I love you." 

The silence grew comfortable as their breathing evened out, sleep finally consuming them.


End file.
